The Passion

"Its concentrated, beautifully detailed prose recalls the diction of fairy tale; its plot incorporates their magic, their shrewd wit and brutality... a deeply imagined and beautiful book, often arrestingly so.”  -  The New York Times

Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice’s compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meets their singular destiny. 

“A historical novel quite different from any other...it is written with a living passion, an eyewitness immediacy...  Winterson is a master of her material, a writer in whom great talent deeply abides.”  -  Vanity Fair

In her unique and mesmerizing voice, Jeanette Winterson’s “concentrated, beautifully detailed prose” (The New York Times) unfurls a “historical novel quite different from any other” (Vanity Fair). “Recalls García Márquez...  Magical touches dance like highlights over the brilliance of this fairy tale about passion, gambling, madness, and androgynous ecstasy.”   -  Edmund White